Wow, what a game. After last Sunday's loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars which seemed like a season-crushing loss, the Steelers found a way to beat the Tennessee Titans at home to potentially save the season. Make no mistake, the NFL is a week-to-week league.
Last week, after the loss to the Jaguars, it certainly seemed like the season was spiraling out of control, but now after beating the Titans, the season appears to be back on track, but the reality is this win is meaningless if we can't keep it going.
Let's see what we learned on the offensive side of the ball.
The Steelers went back to a 'tried and true' method of play calling on offense
Let's get this out there right out of the gate. I am a proponent of having coordinators on the sidelines during games. I go back to the 1970's. By and large, our offensive coordinators have always been on the sidelines calling plays and interacting with players between series.
That wasn't always the case, as I said, but the coordinators who, in my opinion, had the most success with us were the ones who 'coordinated' from the sidelines. Whether or not Matt Canada arrived at the decision to be on the sidelines for the game against the Titans himself is immaterial.
The fact that the Steelers elected to receive after having won the toss and responded by putting together a drive that culminated in a touchdown is evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that Canada should have been on the field from the day that Kenny Pickett was named the starter.
According to ESPN, we accumulated three hundred and twenty-six yards of total offense. I can't remember the last time the offense managed to gain over three hundred yards. The passing game and the rushing game were incredibly balanced with the rushing game outdueling the passing game by six yards.
The statistics that were most encouraging to me were the ones with a 'zero' in the stat column. Pickett threw zero INTs and was sacked zero times. He was under duress quite a bit but managed to evade the would-be sackers. I thought Broderick Jones held up well in his debut at right tackle.
Although Jones was drafted to ostensibly replace Dan Moore Jr. at left tackle, that has not yet materialized. Regardless of what position Jones was drafted for, if he continues to play right tackle and plays well, I vote we just leave him there and let him develop into a Pro Bowl right tackle.
Let's see what we learned on the defensive side of the ball.